A Creative Communication blog

Madeleine Lee was selected as a Top Ten Winner in the 10-12 age category for our Fall 2013 national poetry contest. You can view her winning poem, “She”, by clicking here.

A high school junior at the time of her win, Madeleine has been writing since before she can even remember. It’s her passion. She has been featured in Teen Ink Magazine and the Opening Line, and has been published in the GRIMM AND CLASSIC TALES (Not for the Faint of Heart) anthology by REUTS Publications.

“I really love writing because it allows me to express my values and ideas in my own unique medium.” Madeleine explains, “My dream is to finally complete a book and publish it. (Which will probably happen when I’m about eighty. I’m quite flighty when it comes to long-term writing…)

“I was inspired to write ‘She’ after observing the effect of social media on today’s teenagers — especially girls. I read an article about how active users of Facebook and other social networks tend to be more depressed. After all, everyone on these sites posts the best snapshots and moments of their life. More people are going to post about what college they’re going to or how awesome their boyfriend is…not about how terrible their day was. The article talked about how we feel worse about ourselves because we think everyone else is having a better, more exciting life.

“In my poem, I tried to address the issue on both sides: the girls on these sites who seem perfect (but really aren’t) and the girls who envy them. There’s this really fascinating sense of fake satisfaction and meaningless negativity that piked my interest.

“I hope the poem represented this issue adequately…and I hope girls who read it realize how artificial social media is in general. Sure, it’s a useful way to connect with friends…but users shouldn’t feel bad about themselves, and they shouldn’t compare themselves to false representations of their peers. They are beautiful. And they should embrace this.”

Congratulations again to Madeleine and her many impressive accomplishments. To learn more about our national writing contests, visit www.poeticpower.com.